Election '94.

In Heavy Virginia Turnout, North Defeated

November 09, 1994|By Timothy J. McNulty, Tribune Staff Writer.

RICHMOND, Va. — Oliver North, Virginia's rebel on the Right, was defeated Tuesday in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the nation as large numbers of moderate voters turned out in support of Sen. Charles Robb, the incumbent Democrat.

North, nationally notorious for his involvement in the Iran-contra affair during the Reagan administration, galvanized the conservative and religious Right in Virginia and throughout the country, but it was not enough.

Democrats triumphed in a fierce race that prompted such exceptionally high voter turnout that some polling places remained open more than an hour after the deadline to allow those already in line to vote.

Robb was leading North 46 to 43 percent in late returns, with 11 percent of the vote going to independent candidate Marshall Coleman.

"How sweet it is!" Robb yelled to supporters at his victory rally in northern Virginia. Almost simultaneously, a subdued North conceded, adding, "I don't feel defeated in my loss."

"To me, he was an outsider who stood up against the Congress," said North supporter Dave Sisson, an advertising salesman who had come to the convention center in Richmond for a victory party that was as solemn as a wake. "He was the little guy who suddenly came into politics, who had never held office, and he was a hero."

But he was also the guy who had lied to Congress and who left many voters wondering about his integrity and stability.

In the end, despite all the millions he spent and the attention he attracted, North's loss was a personal repudiation. Perhaps no other Republican would have lost to Robb.

Virginia has been getting more Republican year by year. A Republican captured the governorship last year for the first time in more than a decade, and the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state was Lyndon Johnson. Robb's personal indiscretions-he acknowledged getting a nude rubdown from a beauty queen-made him all the weaker.

But while Robb's problems were personal, North's were political, public and legal. And even though North represented the in-your-face, anti-Washington spirit that was as evident there as it was across the country, Virginians were not ready to turn to a man who had openly lied to Congress.

In addition to his blue-flannel shirt, North wrapped himself in the flag, and he campaigned across the state railing against the Washington establishment on the other side of the Potomac River.

His ability as a fundraiser was undisputed. His $19 million political campaign-the second most expensive in the nation after California-was heavily financed by conservative supporters from out of state.

While Republican Gov. George Allen believed that North could pull out a victory, North's candidacy displayed the divisions within the state party. The state's senior senator, Republican John Warner, claimed North was unfit for office and supported the independent candidate.

Other than his former boss at the National Security Council, John Poindexter, North did not have many supporters from the Reagan administration.

Indeed, former President Ronald Reagan personally called him a liar, as did Reagan's wife, Nancy. Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger campaigned against him.

Politics proved thicker than scandal, however, as Republican contenders for the 1996 presidential nomination lined up in support of North. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas actively campaigned for North, as did Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, former Vice President Dan Quayle and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.